Negotiating with the Taliban: Islamabad, Kabul to launch joint commission this week
Pakistan and Afghanistan will formally launch a joint commission to seek negotiations with the Taliban later this week when Afghan President Hamid Karzai visits Islamabad, officials said.
The two countries are also set to make a transit trade agreement operational after years of negotiations to finalise the US-backed deal aimed at helping landlocked Afghanistan boost its import-oriented economy.
Top Pakistani and Afghan leaders had agreed earlier this year to upgrade a two-tier joint commission headed by the chief executives, including the heads of military and intelligence, of the two countries.
The commission will also have another tier headed by the foreign ministers from both countries to take things forward via formal diplomatic channel.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and President Hamid Karzai are scheduled to lead the opening sessions of the commission during the Afghan leader’s forthcoming visit to Pakistan on June 10.
Karzai will arrive in Islamabad as the head of an official delegation of political and military leaders, as well as officials from the country’s defence services and trade authorities. Officials in Islamabad told The Express Tribune on Sunday that Pakistan had been pushing Afghanistan to finalise nominations for the second tier of the commission which will consist of foreign ministry officials.
“They have finally agreed to our proposal to make it happen now,” a top foreign ministry official said on the condition of anonymity.
The bilateral arrangement between Pakistan and Afghanistan has come at the time when the US is reportedly also seeking to gear up ‘unilateral’ talks with the Taliban to make sure that Western troops can start pulling out of the country from next month.
Experts believe Pakistan’s ‘keen interest’ in having some bilateral arrangement with the Afghan authorities to seek a role in the overall peacemaking process emanates from fear that it might be left out by Washington.
Officials said that under the terms of the commission, Afghan authorities will keep Pakistani counterparts in the loop whenever they make contact with the Taliban.
President Karzai has already set up a High Peace Council led by former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani to spearhead the peacemaking efforts with the Taliban.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 6th, 2011.
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